Thai Pork Rice Bowl with Peanut Sauce

This Thai Pork Rice Bowl with Peanut Sauce is ready in 30 minutes! Features quick-cooked pork tenderloin in a peanut butter sauce, served with spinach and lime rice.

This is one of my favourite ways to enjoy pork tenderloin. The pork is quickly marinated in a Thai sauce of peanut butter, coconut milk and coriander, then broiled or grilled. The remaining marinade is heated for the sauce while the pork cooks.

This is also a 30 minute meal! It actually cooks up in about the same time as it takes to cook the rice (20 minutes). As the pork tenderloin is butterflied, it cooks up really quickly either on the BBQ, in a grill pan on the stove-top or on a baking sheet under the oven broiler.

I served quick sauteed spinach in my bowl. Simply add spinach to a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil and toss a minute or so until wilted. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Steam, roast or microwave any green or veg you like for your bowl!

Cook’s Notes for Thai Pork Rice Bowl with Peanut Sauce

Quick tip for removing the silverskin on your pork tenderloin: make a cut at the end of the silverskin with a very sharp knife, then use a piece of paper towel to grip it and pull it off. Repeat until it’s all removed. The paper towel grips it perfectly and makes getting it off a breeze.

Be sure to stir your full-fat coconut milk well before measuring out the 1 cup. Freeze any remaining coconut milk. It great to use for a future Thai curry.

Any kind of peanut butter will work in this dish, including natural. The thickness of the sauce may differ slightly. Adjust the amount of water you add to the sauce when heating at the end accordingly. (You don’t want the sauce too thick, otherwise it will just sit on top and not seep down to the rice layer a bit).

A grill pan on the stove-top works well with the pork, but you’ll need quite a large one unless you want to cut your pork tenderloin into two smaller pieces (which is fine!).

I served quick sauteed spinach with my rice bowl, but any vegetable you like or have around is fine. I quick saute the spinach in a skillet with a bit of olive oil for about 1 minute, or until wilted.

Thai Pork Rice Bowl with Lime Rice

Course:
Main Course

Cuisine:
Thai

Keyword:
rice bowl recipe with pork, Thai rice bowl recipe

Prep Time:10minutes

Cook Time:15minutes

Total Time:25minutes

Servings:6servings

Energy:695kcal

Author:Jennifer

This recipe serves about 3. To feed more, simply double. The pork can be BBQ'd, cooked on the stove-top in a hot (large) grill pan or broiled in the oven on a baking sheet. As the pork tenderloin is butterflied, it cooks really quickly by any method. You can place the meat in the fridge to marinate for longer (up to 8 hours ahead) if you'd like to do that part ahead

Lime Rice:

Instructions

Start 1 cup basmati rice cooking in 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt.

Prepare marinade by combining all the marinade ingredients and whisking until well combined. Set aside.

Trim pork tenderloin of any visible fat and remove the silverskin. Using a sharp knife, butterfly the pork tenderloin by cutting lengthwise, almost, but not all the way through, so the halves remain attached. Lay tenderloin flat and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat tenderizer or a heavy skillet until uniformly thick (1/2-3/4 inches thick). Place into a shallow baking dish and pour prepared marinade over top. Flip pork over a couple of times so it is well coated in the marinade. Cover dish with plastic wrap and let marinate for at least 10 minutes at room temperature or refrigerate for a longer period (up to 8 hours ahead of cooking).

Meanwhile, preheat grill to medium-high or broiler, with oven rack in the 2nd from the top position. If broiling, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.

After meat has marinated, remove from refrigerator and using tongs, lift pork from marinade holding it over the baking dish. Allow the marinade to drip off, then take a brush and remove most of it that is clinging to the pork back into the baking dish. Take the remaining marinade and pour it into a small saucepan. Add 2 Tbsp. water and stir. Bring sauce to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low to keep warm.

If broiling, place onto foil-lined baking sheet and place under broiler for 10-12 minutes, or until temperature of meat reaches 155° (do not flip). If grilling, place onto hot grill and cook, turning once, until lightly charred and cooked through (6-8 minutes). Remove cooked pork to a cutting board and tent loosely with foil to rest. After it has rested and just before serving, use a sharp knife to slice into strips.

When rice is cooked, remove to a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss well to coat. Pour lime juice over-top and sprinkle with cilantro or parsley. Toss well to combine.

To serve: Place lime rice in the bottom of a bowl. Top with sliced pork. Spoon warm peanut sauce generously over-top. Serve with quick sauteed spinach or any other steamed green. Serve with a lime wedge for garnish/squeezing on top.

Recipe Notes

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I just made this for dinner, it was a hit all around. I never thought f using the broiller to cook meat but the results were very nice.
I used the leftover of the can of coconut milk to cook the rice (along with water ofc), which i often do anyway and it was a great addition. I served it with some sugar snaps, sauteed with garlic. I think i will try to add some heat to the sauce next time, either add some dried pepper flakes or maybe some jalapeños. Thanks for the recipe!

Love your photos, and the coconut-peanut marinade sounds absolutely divine. So much flavour going on! I haven’t used pork tenderloin before as I didn’t really know what to do with it, so will be keeping this recipe in mind next time they are on special! x

I just don’t know where to start! The peanut sauce – my favorite, and the tender pork – yummy! Lime rice? You have knocked this recipe out of the park! Love it and can’t wait to try it once we dig our grill out of the snow. What a winter we are having!